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Cultural Heritage: Surveys

Archaeological field survey in Shandong, China. photo by L. Nicholas.

Museum field research throughout the world has contributed directly the the conservation of our global cultural heritage. In the past decade alone, museum research programs have documented and identified thousands of archaeological sites through archaeological settlement surveys in Peru, Mexico, Hungary, China, Kenya, the USA, New Guinea, and elsewhere. Field surveys involve archaeological teams walking over thousands of acres of land over weeks or months to identify the remains of ancient settlements. Their size and extents are plotted, mapped, and recorded. Governments can use the data generated from archaeological surveys to mitigate damage to cultural heritage by development projects and to preserve cultural sites for posterity.